Amber's health

[Aleolus]

OK, has anyone else noticed how a lot of Amber's 'rants' recently seem to be complaining about her health being in decline?  Perhaps, and I expect a number of people may try to flog me for suggesting this, but perhaps Amber should take a break from uploading the comic.  Take it nice and easy, draw/ink/color comics as she wants, don't upload them for a week or a month or something, then come back with a nice large buffer and she won't be under so much stress and her health will most likely improve dramatically.

*covers head against flying rocks he expects from the rest of the forumers*

[Jigsaw Forte]

While I wouldn't be the first person to suggest that starting a buffer would be good for Amber's health (lord knows it's done wonders for me), it's winter in a Damn Cold Place. People get sick then.

Granted, she probably needs to go check in with someone to make sure she's not got something more serious, but missing more days would likely just stress her out more.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

OTOH, I can't see any of us objecting to her taking a week off.

[Aleolus]

While I wouldn't be the first person to suggest that starting a buffer would be good for Amber's health (lord knows it's done wonders for me), it's winter in a Damn Cold Place. People get sick then.

Granted, she probably needs to go check in with someone to make sure she's not got something more serious, but missing more days would likely just stress her out more.

Not if she specifically said "OK, I am taking this amount of time off from the comic, I will be back on this day, with a nice buffer several comics long, and I will see you all then"

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

The buffer is her problem, not ours. If she doesn't want a buffer, then she doesn't have to have one. Please stop going on about it - she's stated her opinion repeatedly, and, after all, it's her work.

As for the other half - she can do that any time she wants. We'll all live.

[Sid]

I'm with the box there. When the going gets tough, the tough get going... to bed... to recover. We won't spontaneously implode or anything without a 4-per-week comic fix, and health should always come first.

[Amber Williams]

The buffer suggestion is only annoying in the sense that half the time it feels like people seem to assume that I can pull the time to make a buffer out of my butt.  Or that suddenly going double-time on the workload in order to make said buffer is going to be oh so much better.

The truth of the matter is, buffer's dont work very well for me.  When a comic is nearly a full-day process at times, even sitting down a week in advance to make the strips in advance really only results in the same result.  Yeah, I may have a week in advance...but I would still have to work the whole day to keep that buffer and odds are it would just piddle away and I'd be back to square one.

Even if I took a week off, it frankly wouldn't do all that much.  The "stress" of doing the comic isn't going to magically go away just because I have 2 strips extra...cause I'd still be having to work just as hard to keep said buffer. 

tl;dr version: Buffers work for some comics...not mine.  The amount of work I'd have to put in to make said buffer would be just as much as if I didnt, and it wouldn't have any real gain other than you guys getting your updates at a scheduled time.  It would do about zilch for me or my health.

[Tapewolf]

Well, the main strip updates three times a week.  Maybe you could switch to Tuesday & Thursday updates or something?

[Jigsaw Forte]

She speaks!

That's what I figured the situation was; the only way to make a buffer that has any chance of growing as well as shrinking would be to somehow have your rate of comic creation be faster than the rate you post 'em at, and making 4 comics / week is maxing you out as is.

The only way starting a buffer would make sense is if you were to cut out the Saturday "Abel's Story" update and just did the Abel updates in lieu of a normal M-W-F DMFA update, so that you made 4 pages a week but only posted 3 a week. (and unlike Tapewolf's suggestion, cutting out Saturday updates is far less distruptive than switching to brand new days entirely.)  Still, this assumes some level of willingness to accept a slower post rate, and whether you and/or your readers are willing to scale back is of course another issue. I suggest that all you'd need to do in that regard is remind them that Saturday updates are "Bonus" updates to begin with, and so everyone expecting Saturday updates is just spoiled rotten. 

Otherwise, I agree; from experience, once you have a buffer you don't like letting it shrink, and so unless you can make 'em faster than they get posted, having a buffer does jack for comic stress. It has lots of other nice side effects, but reducing stress isn't one of them until you get into the "I have several months worth of material just sitting here" territory, and simply put, several months worth of work . . . takes several months worth of work, basically. 

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Those of us who are looking at the buffer thing intelligently (hi, Amber! ;-]) are looking at it over a year-scale rather than a month scale.

To whit - if Amber was to cut back to mon/fri and put Abel on Wednesday, and make a fourth strip anyway for the buffer, and -keep- to that schedule for three months, -then- she'd have enough buffer to start getting some benefit out of it - take a weekend off, or skip the odd day or two here or there, and still manage to make enough strips to cope.

The problem is, as she's said, it really -does- take her a day to make each strip. After all, that high quality work has to come from somewhere, right?

Given that, it really -isn't- going to help much. About all us geeks can do is see if we can take some of the -other- tasks out of the way, or simplify them in some way...

And sometimes, you -need- some non-art tasks to keep you from going completely mad. So there's limits there, too.



... which means all we can do is sympathise. Yay. I hate doing that...

[Tapewolf]

I suggest that all you'd need to do in that regard is remind them that Saturday updates are "Bonus" updates to begin with, and so everyone expecting Saturday updates is just spoiled rotten. 

Not quite.  She was given almost $2300 to do it 

But yeah, your suggestion of having Abel on Wednesday or something is a better suggestion than reorganising her week.  I wasn't actually suggesting this to make room for the buffer, though - I was thinking that reducing the number of updates per week - even if only for a short period - might be a good thing in any case.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

that's - on the current numbers - about $23/strip. And falling.

At an entire day per, that's an hourly rate of, what, $2.88, rounding up. Not counting hosting costs, which I'll bet are a big chunk of the 2300 over the last two years. (100 strips at one per week - I know it's been maybe 18 months or so, but hey...)

I dunno about you, but I think the ROI on that is pretty damn good, no?

[Tapewolf]

that's - on the current numbers - about $23/strip. And falling.

I dunno about you, but I think the ROI on that is pretty damn good, no?

Hell, yeah.  My only complaint is that for what we've had so far, it should have been more.  I mostly brought this up for Jig's benefit since she seemed to think it (Abel's Story) was entirely spontaneous 

[Amber Williams]

*sigh* I guess I should just out and say it.

The reason for my stress and depleting health isn't really because of the comic.  It's just that the comic is the thing to take the most noticable hit as life grates me down.  I usually try to keep my bleating down to a minimum because I don't want to be one of those artists who is constantly pleading for more.  I guess I'm a bit prideful...or stubborn.

But the truth is, financially I'm doing incredibly bad.  Every month about $200 goes to Sallie May for my college. And another $50 goes to hosting bills like Mabsland and other monthly fees.  And that's just stuff that is tied directly to me and my bank account.  Outside of that, there is food to be needed, bills to be paid, and life's little suprises to be wrangled.  And recently, Mason and myself took a pretty nasty hit so things have been extra sparse since we're still trying to recover from that.

I still don't have car insurance.  The fact of the matter is, I can't even afford to get any at this moment.  Which adds to stress knowing each time desparation makes me use the car to get groceries...I could get into mega trouble.  On top of that, I'm now 1 month past my expected date of being in Canada. That trip in November was going to get me my visa...now I'm past the limit. And every day of that I realize I'm getting closer to pushing the dangerous line.  But insurance aside, I don't even have the means to afford a trip like that, be it gas or getting my car looked at since I haven't had it checked since July.

At this moment, my bank account has $62 to my name...and Sallie May is expecting a payment in about 3 weeks.  Odds are I'll have to ask my mom for help.  Not even going to add in that this month is supposed to be gift-giving month.

It's frustrating...and it's mainly my own fault.  You would think with so much riding on it, I'd be able to hunker down and get the donation counter updated, or finish those wallpapers, or do all the things I'm supposed to.   It's foolish to try to offer incentives when you haven't even finished the ones you prior owed.  And I know the second I try, it will just incite people to throw it back in my face.

And so, I keep trucking.  Because at this moment, it's the only thing I really have.  And I can't afford to take any more breaks and haituses.   Part of me is drawing because I love to, but a part of me is also doing it because when I stop...I am reminded of all the things I'm supposed to be doing and how much a failure I am.

It's almost downright terrifying. Which is why I need to stop typing and get back to work.

[Aleolus]

Well, even if Amber doesn't want to spend time to get a buffer going, she still could take a vacation to let her health recover.  I can think of four or five rants in the past month or so that have been Amber complaning about being or getting sick, and that doesn't strike me as very good for the body.  Your health comes first, Amber!  Get well soon!

EDIT: And Amber, YOU ARE NOT A FAILURE!!!  Do not let anyone, including yourself, tell you otherwise!  I would like to see any of the forumers who post here go through what you have been and still be able to post comics of the quality you are as consistently as you are!  If you feel you need to take a break to get everything else in your life caught up, you have my full support, and I will tar and feather anyone who tries to not let you!

[Amber Williams]

I don't need a break.

I need pictures. Pictures of Spiderman.

[Alondro]

Meh, I know what Amber's going through.  My father's been out of work now for two straight years and my little lab tech salary is barely enough to hold on.

Hence the reason I'm selling my body for medical studies whenever I want to do anything extra.   

Being poor is suxxorz, which is why I'm working hard on a new product which has worked amazingly well on my fungal anaphylactic reactions and allergies.  It's a natural product with no adverse effects that I can discern, and has a powerful suppressive effect on dangerous allergic reactions.

And that's all you're getting!  I'm not gonna tell all about it until I have it patented and the licensing offers start pouring in!   

[Janus Whitefurr]

I don't need a break.

I need pictures. Pictures of Spiderman.

This is Zina's fault, but it's -technically- Spiderman!

[Zina]

I don't need a break.

I need pictures. Pictures of Spiderman.

This is Zina's fault, but it's -technically- Spiderman!

God, I knew what that was the second I read "Spiderman" and "Zina's fault".
SPIDER. SPIDERMAN. DO YOU WANT MY LOVE NOW? PLEASE DON'T GET AWAY.
SPIDERMAN PASSION TO ME YEAH.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I need pictures. Pictures of Spiderman.

.. you'd think you'd have learned from the swedish fish... ;-]

[Zina]

 Awww, that's sweet. I HATE SWEET! I NEED PHOTOS! PHOTOS OF SPIDER-MAN!

[AnizInDisguise]

I don't need a break.

I need pictures. Pictures of Spiderman.

This is Zina's fault, but it's -technically- Spiderman!

I think I've been scarred for life. I only have this to say to Zina:

[Sid]

I don't need a break.

I need pictures. Pictures of Spiderman.

This is Zina's fault, but it's -technically- Spiderman!

...what in *bleep*? 
What is it? Why does the group/artist name sound so familiar? AND WHY CAN'T I STOP WATCHING IT? 

[Zina]

IT'S DJ OZMA, THE GREATEST MAN IN ALL THE WORLD.
HIS FRO WILL ONE DAY RULE EVERYTHING, AND I'LL BE RIGHT THERE BY HIS SIDE, GIVING THE THUMBS UP.

[AnizInDisguise]

Guys, should I get Zina's tranquilizers?

[Kenji]

Hmm. I guess money really does make good christmas presents.
Money... and spiderman pictures apparently.

[Turnsky]

The buffer suggestion is only annoying in the sense that half the time it feels like people seem to assume that I can pull the time to make a buffer out of my butt.  Or that suddenly going double-time on the workload in order to make said buffer is going to be oh so much better.

The truth of the matter is, buffer's dont work very well for me.  When a comic is nearly a full-day process at times, even sitting down a week in advance to make the strips in advance really only results in the same result.  Yeah, I may have a week in advance...but I would still have to work the whole day to keep that buffer and odds are it would just piddle away and I'd be back to square one.

Even if I took a week off, it frankly wouldn't do all that much.  The "stress" of doing the comic isn't going to magically go away just because I have 2 strips extra...cause I'd still be having to work just as hard to keep said buffer. 

tl;dr version: Buffers work for some comics...not mine.  The amount of work I'd have to put in to make said buffer would be just as much as if I didnt, and it wouldn't have any real gain other than you guys getting your updates at a scheduled time.  It would do about zilch for me or my health.

Buffers are great in concept, but in practice, it falls apart, Buffers really only work for people who can crap out an obscene amount of comics in a short amount of time, and let's face it, working that hard is a lotta work, a lotta stress, and not worth it if you're still pushing yourself to the same rigorous schedule.

i.e: Quality > Quantity.

Anyway Amber, do what you feel up to doing, we'll be here rootin' for ya 

[RJ]

I don't need a break.

I need pictures. Pictures of Spiderman.

This is Zina's fault, but it's -technically- Spiderman!

I thought you were talking about this at first:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NPBHyn7I9pA

And you thought that dancing scene in the movie was bad enough.

[Chaos]

Amber? Would a donation of a few boxes of chicken noodle soup help?

[Brunhidden]

how much would random people submitting fan art or fan comics to use as a buffer help?